192 Mr. Butler's Discourse. 



directly repugnant to it ? The transition from an old book to 

 a new one, is an era in the life of a school boy ; independently 

 of its contents, the fact that the book is new, is a source of 

 delight, and an incitement to study. He who knows what is 

 in man, has not only made the whole material world, " beau- 

 ty to the eye and music to the ear ; " but he has made it, in 

 accommodation to our nature, various and changeful. Let us 

 not violate this analogy ; let us not deprive our youth of this 

 source of innocent and useful pleasure. You will do both, if 

 you confine them within a circle prescribed by law, and out of 

 which, they are to understand from the beginning, they are 

 never to depart. The round will be uniform, but it will 

 soon become monotonous and tiresome. (9) 



Without dwelling longer on existing defects, let us enquire 

 how they are to be remedied ? For truly unprofitable will 

 these observations have been, if something remedial shall not 

 be eitner produced or suggested by them. Considering the 

 subject with a just reference to our frame of government, and 

 to the temper and habits of our people, it is hardly to be ex- 

 pected that either of the mischiefs to which we have alluded, 

 can be corrected by legislation. How then is it to be done ? 

 I answer— By the general diffusion of knowledge— especially 

 on the subject of education. You must reach the parents of 

 our youth, and the officers of the school districts, and by im- 

 pressing them with a just sense of the value of education, and 

 of the advantages, in respect to economy and proficiency, 

 which result from the employment of competent teachers, 

 stimulate them to higher efforts. You must reach the instruc- 

 tors in our schools, and by making them acquainted with re- 

 cent improvements, increase their usefulness, and aid them 

 in the performance of their duties. You must reach the chil- 

 dren themselves, and by diffusing instruction, on subjects not 

 within the competency of their teachers, counteract, so far as 

 may be, the evils of defective instruction. And among all the 

 means to be emploved for these purposes, I know of none so 

 efficient as the press. Several periodicals are now published 

 in New-England, in which the subject of education is treated 

 in a manner well adapted to the use of teachers of the higher 

 grade. They enjoy a considerable circulation in this state ; 



